lose those hazy love lies
by piperreynas
Summary: the one where percy sees her at the fair, and it's been a little more than a while. a continuation to "it's so hard to keep this smile from my face." can be read as a standalone; percy/annabeth; also starring actual goddess sally jackson.
1. well you smashed my heart to smithereens

Percy runs into her again at the county fair a couple years after she leaves. She doesn't say hello, but then again she didn't give him much of a goodbye either. She never was one for pleasantries.

He isn't sure it's her when he stops her, placing a hand on her arm, but then she shoves him into the corn-dog cart nearly giving him a concussion, and then he isn't sure that is could be anyone else.

( _He remembers the day she tries to teach him how to punch properly. "You have to put your thumb outside your fist Perce," she had said. She grasps his hand, pulling his thumb so hard he thinks it's bound to snap. He looks down at her but he doesn't say anything and he thinks maybe his silence was his mistake._

" _Why are you looking at me like that?" she asks._

" _Like what?" he says, grinning to throw her off. "You're seeing things in your old age, 'Beth."_

" _You're absolutely_ hilarious _," she says rolling her eyes and walking away._ )

"Annabeth," he breathes, rubbing his abdomen because she still has a killer punch. "It's me."

Annabeth stops where she is and turns around slowly, swallowing and tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Percy," she says offering a strained smile. "Long time no see." He stares for a while; doesn't say anything, just takes a moment to look at her. She looks almost the same as she did when she left, sunshine threaded into her hair and hurricanes in her eyes.

( _"I'm gonna beat you, Percy!" she says, laughing and when she turns back around to stick her tongue out at him, the sun hits her just right; her eyes turn into molten mercury, her hair turns into gold. He almost trips._

 _She laughs again. "You idiot," she says and_ that's _when he falls. She laughs as she walks_ _back to help him up._ )

(She told him that she was going to destroy him, once, and he marvels at the accuracy of her thirteen-year old self.)

He's been feeling off the entire day, and this is what sets him off, seeing her after four years of radio silence. Something settles in the pit of his stomach and _twists_ and it hurts to talk to her, hurts to be near her, hell it even hurts to _look_ at her. "Yeah," he laughs bitterly. "Whose fault was that?"

"Percy it wasn't like that-" she says, taking a step towards him. He takes a step back that turns into three but he doesn't notice that he's moving until her face crumples and he feels his back hit the cool steel of the cart.

"Of course it wasn't," he says, tears stinging his eyes. He blinks rapidly, trying to shake it off.

"Percy," she begins sadly. She reaches for him but seems to thinks better of it and her hand drops like a stone in water. He looks down at his feet. She looks up at the clouds. She can't seem to be able to finish her sentence so he doesn't let her.

"Well," he says wetly, "see you when I see you." And then he turns and walks away, not even bothering to apologize to the vendor, but Annabeth doesn't move. When he looks back at her she looks like she's crying but he doesn't go back because she promised she wouldn't leave, and she did anyway. He can't be mad at her any more- he could never be mad at her for more than a few days, but he's done trying to forgive.

* * *

He calls his mom when he gets home because he doesn't know what else to do. He's crying a little by the time she picks up, and she notices because she always has. "Percy? What's wrong, kiddo?" she asks.

Percy takes a while before answering and his mom waits. "I saw her again today."

"…Annabeth?"

"Yeah."

His mom sighs. "I'm so sorry sweetie."

"Yeah." He listens to her breathe on the other end for a while before he says, "Thanks Mom."

"Of course," she says sadly. "She shouldn't shouldn't have-"

" _Don't,_ " he says harshly because even after all that's happened it hurts to hear someone talk about her like that.

He hears his mother gasp quietly. "Oh, _Percy,_ " she says, cloyingly sweet, unbearably pitying. He listens to her bustle around in the kitchen for another minute before he hangs up.

When he goes to bed that night he remembers the day in the fort when they were twelve, the hazy quality everything had taken on for just a minute or two as she crawled on top of him sleepily. " _Promise you'll be you forever_ ," she had said, and he remembers the feeling of her hands in his hair, careful and soft and gentle.

He tries to shake it off, tries to shake _her_ off. It doesn't work.

* * *

Annabeth corners him after his shift at the used bookstore that he (and Annabeth) used to hang out in with a smile and a cup of coffee. "Figures you'd be working at this place huh?" she says. Percy offers her a smile because he could never be mad at her for long. He waits. He's been doing that for a while now.

Her smile falters a bit when he doesn't answer. "Look," she begins carefully. "I know that what I did was unfair and I should've told you, I just…I was scared and…" she trails off and taps her cup. "I should have told you," she repeats firmly. "And I'm sorry, I know it's gonna take a while for things to back to normal and could we be friends, _please_?" she says, looking up at him through her lashes.

Percy exhales slowly. He wants to say yes; he can feel the words crawling up the back of his throat, but he can't because this is _Annabeth Chase_. She already broke his heart the first time she left, and he can't let her love him and leave him again. "You know we can't go back."

She doesn't give up. "Coffee? At Katie's?" And then she gives him that _look_ that even her mother couldn't resist and so he concedes and nods.

"Okay," she says tentatively.

He thinks it might be worth it to see her smile again.

"We both know I'm really really _really_ sorry, and I'll buy you like…three coffees and a box full of cookies and handcuff us together-"

"That won't be necessary-"

"Just, whatever it takes you know?"

Percy sighs. "Okay. But it's gonna take a lot more than _caffeine_ ," he says gesturing to the cup in his hand.

"So…yes to the handcuffs," she says with that wicked grin of hers.

"What? No! Annabeth, you- stop laughing at me!"

Once she calms down she asks, "Ice cream?"

Percy grins at her tentatively. "You know me so well," he says, offering her his arm.

She beams, bright and unafraid and _Annabeth_ and when she looks over at him again, it's like she never left at all.

* * *

 _Annabeth tells him about her parents fighting when they're in the sixth grade. She doesn't know why she does; she's never told anyone before. Percy doesn't understand it, even though his dad left a long time ago._

" _I thought they loved each other," he says, his brow furrowing._

" _So did I. But Dad said that sometimes people can fall out of love."_

 _Percy's entire face scrunches up when he hears that. "Well how does that work?" He looks up at her. Annabeth shrugs._

 _Annabeth kicks the ground with the toe of her shoes. "My Dad says Mom might leave us."_

 _Percy gets a strange look on his face, the kind that he gets when he's figured something out. "Well why would she do a crazy thing like that?" he says. He makes sure to try to reign in his expression so he doesn't give anything away and inadvertently scare her. He knows firsthand how well she can read people after six years._

 _Annabeth shrugs again. "She hasn't said anything to me, so she probably won't right?" she asks, panicking a little bit._

 _Percy hesitates. "Well, I would say yes but you hate it when I lie to you."_

 _Annabeth hums in agreement. Sometimes it scares her, how well he knows her. The only other people who know her like that are her parents and one of them is about to leave her. She opens her mouth and then closes it again. Percy raises an eyebrow and waits._

" _You won't ever leave will you? Not without telling me first?" she asks, carefully._

 _He smiles, big and bright. "'Course not. Never ever. Pinky promise."_

 _(He tries to get her to spit shake on it too, but she runs away before he can grab her hand.)_

* * *

Grover finds him the next day on her favorite swing at her favorite playground ever, or so she had said. He remembers watching her hair and wondering how it could look so much like gold and still be nothing like it.

"Hey, Perce," he says nervously.

Percy laughs. "You know don't you?"

Grover laughs too, but it comes out as a nervous bleat. "Know what?" Percy gives him a look. Grover nods. "Your mom told me," he says taking a seat on the swing next to him.

"Hmm."

Grover swipes a foot against the wood chips. Percy watches a squirrel duck behind a tree before he says, "She found me again."

Grover doesn't say anything for a while and when he does respond, he makes an effort to sound nonchalant, which Percy appreciates although it's not what he needs. "Oh," Grover says swaying a little on the swing. "What'd she say?"

Percy swallows. "She said she was sorry."

Grover blinks. "Did she say anything else?"

"She told me she'd make it up to me."

Grover sighs. "Did you forgive her?"

"No. But I want to."

"Then do it."

Percy laughs brokenly. "I _can't_ ," he says his voice cracking. "If she leaves again I...I can't..."

Grover sighs again. "Oh, _Percy_ ," he says, just like his mother. Percy walks away.

* * *

It's different now, with Percy. Of course, she knew this would happen; she's not stupid. She didn't think she could break a promise, leave, and then come back and expect Percy to be the exact same person he was before she left. But at the same time, she doesn't _want_ half of Percy and she can't stand to see him pulling away from her constantly, so she corners him at the bookstore.

He greets her with a strained grin. "Hey, 'Beth, fancy seeing you here! What can I do fo-"

"Why do you keep shutting me out?" she asks, cutting straight to the chase.

His smile slips away. "I'm not, I'm just really tired-"

"You're _afraid_ Percy," she says gently.

"I'm not _afraid,"_ he says defensively.

"I get it, I do-"

He laughs harshly. "You _get it,_ " he repeats flatly. He looks at his feet blankly trying to come up with a response. He can't seem to come up with anything to say, so he gives her a cold look and leaves. (She didn't know Percy could do cold. She didn't know a lot of things.)

She immediately follows, grabbing his arm when he tries to shove past her. "Percy what is going on?"

He laughs again. " _You get it_?" he spits at her. "No, you don't." He's shouting now, but he takes a deep breath to calm himself down. "I'm not the one who left you, so you don't get to act as if you're taking the high road," he says his voice so low Annabeth can barely hear him.

"Percy, I had my reasons for leaving-"

"Really? Then why didn't you tell me?"

"I-" she sighs. "I was afraid you wouldn't understand."

Percy scoffs. "I was your best friend." he says quietly. (She would've preferred if he had yelled. Quiet Percy is so much worse than an angry one.) She flinches at the past tense. "So what if I didn't get it? I would have tried. You should have _let me try_."

"I was afraid you wouldn't let me leave," she says holding his gaze. "I'm sorry," she says and it sounds wet and he knows that she's about to cry but he can't bring himself to care.

"You didn't even say goodbye," he says scoffing. And then he walks away.

She remembers then. ( _"You won't ever leave? Not without telling me first?")_

* * *

 **notes:** the angst is _real_ my friends. i told y'all i would finish this! sorry it took me so long...please review (emphasis on **review.** )


	2. falling in love is hard on the knees

She avoids Percy for a long time, after. She's gotten really good at that. It's for his own good she reasons; she's given him enough grief. (A voice in her head whispers, _liar, coward, selfish selfish girl_.)

She wonders if this would be doing more harm than good a second later but then dismisses the thought; that is, after all, the same wondering that got her here in the first place. She walks past the candy store Sally used to work at and clenches her fists, digs her fingernails into her palms so hard she almost draws blood.

(Thirteen year-old Percy holds a bag of sweets above her head just barely out of her reach, laughing; ten year-old Percy walks by waving a plastic dolphin in the air; fifteen year-old Percy steals her blue jellybeans, smirks when she protests.

Ten year-old Annabeth walks by with a bag of lollipops in her favorite shade of purple; thirteen year-old Annabeth flies in clutching a newly purchased jean jacket to show Sally; fifteen year old Annabeth walks out of the store with Sally on one side and Percy on her left, laughing-)

 _This will be good for us_ , she decides. She doesn't believe it.

* * *

 _"What do I even pack?" Percy asks frantically, staring at his stash of blue jellybeans with an intensity he usually reserves only for his math homework. "Potatoes?"_

 _Annabeth chucks a pillow at his head. "Don't be stupid, Percy," she teases. "Potatoes come from Idaho not Ohio."_

 _"That doesn't help!" Percy says, frantically turning away from her in favor of rummaging through his closet for the third time that day._

 _Annabeth huffs, annoyed, as yet_ another _sea-themed t-shirt hits her in the face._ _"You're going to a family reunion with, like, 20 people in the Midwest, not the_ _damn White House_ _," Annabeth reasons bemusedly watching him run around his room like a man possessed. "You'll be surrounded by cows and wheat fields."_

 _"First off, it's not_ my _family, and second, you're still not helping."_

 _"Paul considers you his family and that's all the matters, right?"_

 _Percy nods. "Right."_

 _"Okay, so just pack two pairs of jeans, t-shirts, and a couple pairs of sweatpants and you'll be fine."_

 _Percy flops down next to her. "What would I ever do without you, Annabeth?" he asks exaggeratedly._

 _"Apparently, you'd be packing potatoes."_

 _"Shut up," he huffs, halfheartedly lobbing a pillow back at her. He nudges her with an arm until they're both staring at the ceiling. "I don't wanna go without you," he says softly, pulling her closer and speaking into the soft skin of her neck._

 _"I know. But Dad said that separation could be good for us. Being perpetually joined at the hip isn't healthy," she says, turning and getting a face-full of Percy's ink-black locks._

 _"Since when do you listen to your dad?" he asks, smiling._ _She can feel his lips on her skin and it makes her breath hitch._

 _She has to wait a few seconds before she can do more than squeak. "This will be good for us," she says, decisively._

 _"Pinky promise?" he asks. It's meant to be teasing, light-hearted, but it comes out soft, sincere...scared._

 _Annabeth links pinkies with him and squeezes. "Pinky promise."_

* * *

She looks for him anyway, for his sake. He didn't like to end things with an argument (and he _hated_ lies _._ ) She finds him sooner than she thought she would, exactly where she left him the first time, laying in the grass under their favorite willow tree. ( _Selfish, heartless girl_ , the voice whispers.) "Percy?" she says.

He doesn't move to sit up or even so much look at her, just sighs. "You've come to apologize, haven't you? he asks flatly. Annabeth doesn't answer, but somehow he knows what her answer would be if she could find the courage to so much as open her mouth and he snorts. "Get on with it then," he says, raising an expectant eyebrow and recieves silence in return because somehow she's run out of words right when she needs them the most. (She knows she wants to say: _i'm sorry, i'm sorry, i'm sorr_ _y._ Maybe even _i love(d) you._ )

Percy sits up, watches her face, drops his gaze to her hands, then laughs bitterly. "You were always so proud," he says, amusedly, and then he stands up and leaves, leaving her alone with all of her broken promises and silent confessions like she did to him eight years ago. Poetic justice, she muses.

* * *

Not knowing what to do, she decides to visit Percy's mother. Sally opens the door as a loud crash echoes from somewhere inside the apartment. When she sees Annabeth in front of her she stops and stares balnkly before coming back to herself and ushering Annabeth into the house, albeit a little stiffly. Annabeth feels the weight of her questioning gaze like a brand but she doesn't say a word as the door creaks shut.

(Fifteen year old Annabeth coaxes Percy into finishing his math homework, fourteen year-old Percy frustratedly tosses a review into the trash, sixteen year-old Annabeth throws a book at the wall-)

Annabeth sits down on the couch and watches as Sally bustles around the house in a hurried attempt to make everything presentable before sitting down in the chair across from her. "What do you need Annabeth?" Sally asks.

Annabeth looks at her hands. "I really upset Percy...again...and I want to understand how to fix it."

"How exactly?"

Annabeth fidgets some more. "I um. I said some things I shouldn't have and I didn't know how to apologize without...without making things worse."

Sally's eyes flash. "I see. I'm not entirely sure I can help you. Or rather I'm not sure I will."

Annabeth frowns. "I don't understand."

"Percy's a _person_ , Annabeth. You can't just _fix it_ , like you would a toy," she says, laughing a little. "I don't think you realize how much you hurt him when you left. And he was only just beginning to get over you and well, you've done it again." She smiles a little apologetically. "I loved you like a daughter Annabeth, I still do, but I didn't do what I did for Percy to watch him break over and over again because of you and I can't watch that. Percy didn't work this hard to get over all of this to let you undo all of it. I won't help you."

Annabeth gives her a feeble smile and a nod. "I'm sorry," she says, and then she walks out the door with shaking hands because what else can she say?

* * *

Thalia finds her a few days later. "Hi," she says cautiously, lingering by the tree a couple feet away from where Annabeth is sitting. Before Annabeth left, she wouldn't have hesitated to sit down and prop her feet up in Annabeth's lap and her best friend's new-found cautiousness hurts almost as much as everything else. "Can I sit?" Annabeth wants to say _of course_ , wants to say, _you know you can_ but she knows Thalia wouldn't be asking if she did and she doesn't think she can trust herself to speak, so she settles for a nod instead.

Thalia sits down carefully (that seems to be everyone's default setting around her nowadays: cautious, careful, alert) and looks down at her ratty combat boots. "I heard that you went to see Percy and Sally." She fidgets, then adds, "Seperately, that is."

Annabeth nods. "I did."

Thalia nods. There's a long silence. Annabeth looks over to see Thalia biting her lip the way she does when she's thinking. "How, um...how did it go?"

Annabeth shrugs and makes a noncommital sound. "As well as can be expected, I suppose." Thalia nods and _ah_ 's. "I mean," she starts, feeling strangely compelled to fill the uncomfortable silence that follows, "it's not like I could've expected them to be civil after I just...left."

Thalia nods. "Right. I mean...yeah, of course."

Annabeth looks over at her. "Do you want to say something?" Thalia looks at her, bewildered. Annabeth raises a brow.

Thalia shrugs and smiles. "Guess I forgot."

* * *

She sees Percy again a few weeks later at their coffeeshop. She's dejectedly making her way through a large cup of dark coffee and a biscotti in her old reading nook when he takes the seat across from her. "Hi," he says, smiling awkwardly and leaning in so he doesn't hit his head against the light fixture.

She nods in response, more than a little amused at the way he's managed to cram his six-foot frame into the small space.

"I heard you went to see Mom," he starts and her amusement is replaced suddenly by fear and even more guilt as she starts to apologize. He cuts her off. "I'm not here to yell at you I was going to say that we were being a little unfair. I mean, I'm still mad but...you had reasons, and you apologized and you tried to make up for leaving so."

She smiles at him. "Thanks."

"I haven't-"

"I know, I know, you haven't forgiven me, you're just...less mad."

"Yes, exactly."

"Cool-" she says, fiddling with her book.

"So I'm gonna-"

"Yeah," they say simultaneously as Percy hastily makes his way out of the nook and accidentally hits his elbow.

* * *

Two days after her encounter with Percy a the coffee shop, Thalia invites herself into Annabeth's apartment. "Nice digs, 'Beth," she says, falling onto the couch with a low whistle and putting her feet up on Annabeth's brand-new coffee tbale.

Annabeth winces, although she's not sure if it's at the nickname or the fact that Thalia's getting dirt and bugs all over her pristine furniture. "Don't call me that," she says, pushing Thalia's feet back onto the floor and walking to the kitchen to get a couple bottles of beer.

"Annabeth?" Thalia asks, her tone heavy with insecurity.

Annabeth pauses with one hand inside the refrigerator and looks back into the living room to see Thalia with her chin in her hands. "Yeah?"

"You're staying this time, right?"

Annabeth ponders the question for a minute, thinks about her non-existent job oppurtunities elsewhere, thinks about Thalia and Percy and Sally. "Yeah, I think so."

"That's good."

Annabeth narrows her eyes and shuts the fridge, despite the fact that she's empty handed. "And why's that?"

Thalia bites her lip, faking guilt. "I may or may not have invited you to a party."

Annabeth scowls. "You did _what?_ "

"Well look on the bright side," she says, her eyes gleaming with intent. "It's at Piper's house, and Percy's gonna be there too!"

Annabeth opens her mouth in shock, then closes it. " _What_?" she repeats, suddenly at a loss.

"Huh." Thalia frowns. "Your vocabulary is usually a bit more extensive than that. You sure you're okay?" Annabeth throws an apple at her.

* * *

notes: here's part 2 of 3 (i hope)! not gonna lie, the next chapter's probably going to be even shorter than this one.  
+favorites/review are always appreciated!  
+come say hi on tumblr! (url: piperreynas)


	3. here comes the sun

The "small intimate" party Thalia describes is neither small nor intimate. Annabeth walks into the the Mclean mansion to see what must be a throng of a hundred or so people on the first floor alone, another ten outside and who knows how many on the second and third. However, she muses, with this many people it's incredibly likely that she won't have to interact with Percy at all.

She narrows her eyes trying to block out the bright strobe lights and decides to head upstairs and, lo and behold, bumps into Percy on her way up the stairs. "Hi!" she yells over the music. He mumbles something that sounds like a prayer. "What?" Annabeth yells.

"Goddamit," he sighs, louder this time.

Annabeth blinks. "Well hey Annabeth! It's nice to see you," she chirps pointedly, raising an eyebrow, more amused than insulted.

"Sorry," Percy says, looking around as if somone's going to jump out at him, "it's just Thalia invited both of us to this party so she could meddle and if she sees us together she'll try and meddle some more and I _really_ don't want-"

Annabeth nods and smiles stiffly. "Gotcha. He smiles too, relieved, then points at the second story landing and mouths something that she can't make out but that's okay. She gets the message loud and clear. "Oh yeah go ahead," Annabeth says, smiling weakly stepping to the side. "I was gonna-"

"I'll see you later!" he calls at the top of his lungs, squeezing past a few old classmates.

"-leave," she finishes dejectedly. She sighs and tosses her red SOLO cup in the trash can on her way out.

* * *

"So," Thalia says the next day, cornering her on her way to her weekly bookstore visit. Annabeth raises her eyebrows in pretended innocence. "Oh please," Thalia says, crossing her arms, "you know exactly what I'm talking about. How was it?"

"No I don't. How was what," Annabeth asks, stepping past her to open the door.

Thalia rolls her eyes and follows her in. "How was the party?" Annabeth shrugs noncomitally, pulling a book off the shelf and scrutinizing it. Thalia sighs. "Of course it was."

"What does that mean?" Annabeth asks indignantly. Thalia mirrors her noncommital shrug. Annabeth glares at the other girl. "What? Tell me."

"I only mean that if you were anyone else, the fact that you went to a huge party at a fucking mansion and though it was 'eh' would be surprising."

Annabeth shrugs again. "It _was_ eh. Everyone was doing the same thing and the beer was disgusting."

"Was Percy _eh_ too?" Thalia asks slyly.

"I barely talked to him," Annabeth says. Thalia sighs again and Annabeth shakes her head. "This is what happens when you try to meddle, Thals. The people you're trying to meddle with realize something's up and then do their best to avoid a conversation."

"I was not meddling-" Thalia protests.

"Percy said, and I quote, 'Thalia invited both of us so she could meddlle.'" Annabeth says, rolling her eyes.

"I knew it, you did talk to him!" Thalia says triumphantly. A girl further down the aisle huffs and stalks away.

"Yeah, so he could tell me that he didn't want to have to do this with you, and then we parted ways," she says, turning back to the shelves and walking a little further down the aisle in attempt to distance herself.

Thalia sighs. "Oh."

Annabeth makes a noncommital noise and looks down at her feet. "It's fine," she says, feeling anything but.

"No it's not I shoudn't have-"

" _Don't_ ," Annabeth says, her voice wavering as she blinks back tears. "Don't pity me. This is all my fault anyway." Thalia says nothing as Annabeth pulls a cookbook off the shelf to avoid eye contact. They leave the store empty handed a half-hour later.

* * *

She gets a call from him a week later. She debates answering it until her willpower gives out and picks up the phone right as the call's about to end. "How'd you get my number?" he asks.

"Hey Percy!" he echoes, more amused than accusing, "How are you?"

"Hey Percy," she repeats flatly, "how are you."

She hears him laugh softly on the other line, and then after a long uncomfortable silence he says, "What did you say to Thalia?"

"Why, what's wrong with Thalia?" she asks.

"Nothing, it's just...she hasn't done anything in a while," he says.

Annabeth laughs shortly and begins to pace across her floor. "So what? It's a problem if she meddles and still a problem if she doesn't?" She wants it to sound teasing but it comes out harsh, accusatory.

There's a few beats of silence and she can almost see his expression as he deliberates upon what to say next. "I mean, no...it's just. She's acting strange."

"I haven't said anything out of the ordinary to her. She asked me about the party and I told her about it," she says, shrugging and then chastising herself for being stupid; she _knows_ he can't see her. "Have you um...talked to to her?"

"...No. I guess I should have done that before I asked, huh," he says, laughing awkwardly. She laughs just as awkwardly and then they fumble around with goodbyes before Annabeth hurriedly hits the end call button and sighs in relief.

* * *

She finds Thalia in her apartment a month later with her feet up on the coffee table. "Hey Thalia," Annabeth says sarcastically as the other girl bolts upright, "Do come in." She drops her handbag on the table and grabs a granola bar as Thalia tries to come up with something to say.

"I'm sorry about the party," she says, playing with the tassels on her jacket. "I shouldn't have meddled it just made things worse."

"That's nice," Annabeth says, ripping open the plastic wrapper with a ferocity that would frighten her on any other day.

"But," Thalia continues tentatively, trailing off as Annabeth fixes her with a glare, "it's been a month and you two haven't gone anywhere. RElationship-wise I mean."

Annabeth sighs. "We're not getting together Thals-"

"-And I know that, I just...I was hoping you'd be friends at the very least-"

"-We _are_ friends-"

"-and not the shtick y'all are pulling right now, I mean _real_ friends. I want you to find what you had."

Annabeth looks at her feet and takes a bite out of her granola bar. "I don't think we can go back to that. We can be friends, sure, but I broke a promise. A big one. We can't go back from that," she says blinking back tears. Thalia leans over and lets her head fall on Annabeth's shoulder. "I'm _fine_ ," Annabeth insists.

Thalia hums. "You always are," she says.

* * *

Percy finds her again in front of the bookstore, not even a full day after her conversation with Thalia. "We have to talk."

Annabeth snorts. "First off, _have to_ is subjective, and second, we are talking," she says, turning away from the glare of the sun. Percy makes a face at her. She rolls her eyes. "Go on."

"I came to tell you that I've taken some time to process this shit, and I don't think I can forgive you."

Annabeth's heart sinks. "Oh."

"But," he says, holding her back as she tries to make a run for it, "I think we can get past this."

Annabeth stops and peers up at him through her lashes. "Yeah?" she asks nervously. He grins and for the first time in years, she feels happy.

* * *

notes: this is a super short chapter compared to all the others and i'm sorry for that but i really needed to get this finished for my own peace of mind. :/.  
+find me on tumblr (url: piperreynas)!  
+reviews/favs/follows are always appreciated.


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